Food processors struggle with nutritional issues

Food & Drug Packaging, Feb, 2005

As debate continues over whether the low-carb fad has peaked, the food industry is trying to figure out how to appeal to consumers' desire for more healthful food.

Recent developments include:

* The European Union is looking into restrictions on marketing to children of foods high in sugar, fat or other "negative nutrients." EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou is calling on industry to head off such regulation through voluntary measures, as well as making nutritional information on packaging easier to understand.

* Kraft Foods, which has beer struggling with lackluster financial performance, has announced restrictions on marketing to children. It will avoid advertising on cartoon shows and other programs aimed at kids, and will no longer gear advertising of certain products to children under 12. The move comes on the heels of Kraft's decision to print whole-package nutritional information for packages that contain more than one regulatory "serving" of product but are still meant to be consumed in one sitting.

* General Mills is putting whole-grain flour into the formulation of all its ready-to-eat cereals. The change was marked by a big logo added to the front panel of its cereal boxes.

* H-E-B Central Market, a division of the H.E. Butt Grocery Co., is rolling out dozens of new products under its Central Market Organics and Central Market All Naturals private labels. The products include pasta and sauces, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, fruit preserves, tortilla chips and orange juice. Central Market plans to have more than 200 such products available by the end of the year.

* Tyson Foods has announced the removal of trans fat from all its breaded precooked poultry items and school foodservice products. The initiative, announced in February 2004 with Tyson branded breaded chicken products, including nuggets, patties and tenders, is now complete.

* Some established products are getting nutritional "makeovers." Hershey Foods, for instance, has a low-carb chocolate bar, and Cadbury-Schweppes now offers 7UP Plus, a version of Diet 7UP fortified with vitamin C and iron.